Why Don't You Love Me?
by LLPotter
Summary: A series of short looks into the younger lives of Harry Potter characters.
1. Harry

Disclaimer:  I don't own Harry Potter.  J.K. Rowling does.  If I did own them I would be rich and British; seeing as I am neither I think that it's self explanatory.  

Note: Written for the Harry Potter challenge one (angst and 500 words or less) on Beautilicious Imaginility.   

            Little four year old Harry Potter sits on a cold, hard bench in the middle of a playground.  Over in the sandbox he can see his cousin Dudley with some of his friends.  Harry doesn't have any friends; Dudley makes sure of that.  

            All over the park Harry sees other little boys and girls with their Mummies and Daddies.  Harry does not have a Mummy or a Daddy.  Instead he has a mean Aunt and Uncle who make him do work.  It seems to the small boy that he can do nothing right for these people.  They rarely strike him but physical abuse is not the only kind.  They don't love him.

            Harry's Aunt and Uncle don't like Harry because his parents were "freaks."  Harry doesn't know what a "freak" is but if they would love him and be kind to him he'd choose them over his Aunt and Uncle any day.  Harry's Aunt and Uncle say that his parents are dead, but Harry doesn't know what death is for he is four years old and has not learned this concept yet.  

            Sometimes Harry dreams of some people who he assumes are his parents.  There is a woman with long red hair and a man with hair just like his own.  The woman rocks him and sings to him and the man reads him stories.  There are others that Harry remembers in the back of his mind: a man who could turn into a dog who would play with him, a man with light brown hair who always looked tired but always had time for him, a man with pale beady eyes who Harry doesn't like very much, and an old man with half moon spectacles and a long white beard.  Harry supposes that this is his family but as time wears on his memories of them grow fainter.  He mentioned the dog man to his Aunt once but she just yelled at him and Harry spent a week in his cupboard.

            Harry remembers other things from the past too.  There was a green light and pain and every time little Harry has this dream he awakens shaking and sweating.

            Harry has to wear Dudley's old clothes.  He makes a rather desolate picture as he sits on the bench with his baggy pants and shirt, his messy hair, and with the scar seared across his forehead.  Most of the parents tell their children not to go near the boy for he doesn't look like the kind of child they want them to associate with.  So Harry sits alone while the others have their fun and enjoy the love of their families.  

            Harry's Aunt calls to him in her shrill voice that it is time to leave.  The boy gets up and makes his way across the barren asphalt to where she will take him back to his cupboard.  He'll have work to do at home.  

            Later that night, when the household is asleep, little Harry Potter lies awake in his tiny cupboard that masquerades as a bedroom.  He clutches at his sheets as he silently cries.  All he wants is to be loved. 


	2. Neville

Disclaimer still applies, as always.

A/N: I've decided to continue this. Every chapter henceforth will feature a different character. This one will focus on Neville.

Little Neville Longbottom sits alone in his room. He is six years old. Today is going to be a miserable day; he can just feel it. Neville lives with his Grandmother more commonly referred to as Gran. His parents are, well they're not normal. This is the result of a Death Eater attack in which the Cruciatus curse was used; his parents went insane. Neville doesn't really understand this. All he knows is that his mummy and daddy aren't the same as everyone else's and it's not fair.

Neville, however, can remember a time when they were normal and this is the part he finds most unfair about the whole ordeal. The memories are vague, but he can still remember his father bringing him a toy broomstick and trying to teach him how to ride it and his mother singing him to sleep at night. But now he can only see them once a month.

Today is one of those days. He's known it as soon as he'd woken up, because the sound of people talking had drifted up the stairs from the kitchen. Whenever Neville has to go on one of his visits to St. Mungo's to see his parents, his Gran invites people over to help cheer him up. Today it happens to be his Great Uncle Algie and Great Aunt Enid. Neville thinks he hears something about Blackpool pier, but doesn't want to think about whatever Earthly tortures they have planned.

Contrary to popular belief the outings that take place after he sees his parents normally produce the opposite effect of what's intended; especially when they involve Great Uncle Algie. Neville is normally made to sit through hours of stories about how wonderful his parents were and what a great witch and wizard they were. Then, to make matters worse, they discuss whether or not he'll turn out to be a squib when they think he can't hear.

So, Neville already knew that today would be bad and he didn't prove himself wrong. After breakfast, he's bundled up and taken to St. Mungo's to see his parents. The first time after the attack that Neville saw them he didn't understand why his mummy and daddy didn't remember him and he cried into his mother's leg until a nurse pried him off. The Longbottoms were distressed and it was requested that Neville be removed from the hospital. In time Neville learned to accept the fact that his parents can't play with him anymore, but that doesn't mean he likes it.

When Neville and his Gran arrive at the hospital they go directly to the long term ward (the visitors never come with them). Neville is quiet while they are there. He accepts the bubble gum wrapper that his mother presents him like he always does and slips it into his pocket like his gran always tells him not to. When they leave he cries softly as always and listens to Gran tell him that he's lucky he even has parents. He could be like Harry Potter and have been sent to live with Muggles. But Neville disagrees with her. He thinks that it would be better to not have parents than to have to see them in the shape they are in.

The next event of the day is just as predictable as the first was; the cheering up outing. It's not that Neville doesn't enjoy the pier, with its interesting sights and sounds; it's the people that he's with that make it unpleasant. The fact that Uncle Algie decides to try another one of his magic tests doesn't help much either.

As a result of this test little Neville finds himself soaring through the air. The ocean is cold and choppy when Neville hits. At the age of six years old Neville can't really swim and in the ocean it's nearly impossible. So, Neville flings about with his arms and legs, trying wildly to stay above water. Above him the adults go into a panic about what to do for using magic in front of so many Muggles would be dangerous. Luckily a passing Muggle is able to save him. That's the end of the cheering up outing.

So, Neville sits on his bed, wrapped in towels and feeling miserable. The bubble gum wrapper is sitting on his desk and later when it is dry he will write the date on in his sloppy childish writing. Downstairs the grownups are talking about him again, but he doesn't have the heart to eavesdrop. Neville begins to cry as he sits on his bed and wonders why his life is like this.


End file.
